1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to network communications, and more particularly to controlling rate or other network communication parameters for network communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Generally, the higher data transfer rate that a communications interface uses, the more energy it uses. For example, a current 10GBASE-T PHY interface (10 Gbps Ethernet over CAT6/6a7 cable) consumes approximately 10 Watts compared to a current 1000BASE-T PHY interface (1 Gbps Ethernet over CAT5e cable) which consumes less than 1 Watt. Although the ability to auto-negotiate (automatically change rate to the lowest found rate on a link) exists the ability to very quickly change the link rate programmatically does not exist. Unless a rate change occurs quickly upper layer protocols will timeout, retransmit or drop connection. The possibility of fast-rate adaptable communications devices is currently being explored by the Energy Efficient Ethernet Study Group in the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
It is known to use an OSI layer 1 (L1) based mechanism for rate control by modifying the interpacket gap length to improve performance or reduce frame rate.